Caster.



AUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

MERWIN e. DANIELs, or NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIeNoR To STANDARD cAs- TER AND WHEEL COMPANY, A ooRPoRA'rIoN or WEST VIRGINIA.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 714,636, dated November 25, 1902. Appiicaion filed nach 2s, 1901. serai No. 52.532. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern/.- Be it known that I, M'ERWIN G. DANIELs, a

citizen of the United States, and a residentof` the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and

State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in .Pintle-Retainersfor Casters, of which the following is a specification. l l

Myinvention relates to an improvement in Io casters, and particularly to that class of casters in which the pintles of the caster t into a metallic'tube `which either constitutes or else is inserted in the leg of a piece of furniture and is held therein frictionally. In the I5 ordinary construction of caster or castersockets of this type the pintle is surrounded at the top and at the bottom with pieces or plates of sheet metal which serve to hold it in an upright position, and a variety of d e-` l 2o Vices is employed, either attached to these plates or to the `pintle itself by a variety of constructions, which devices serve assprings for retaining the pintle inthe metallic tubes. All of these constructions are more or less l z5 expensive` and more or less inefficient, for the reason that they do not afford sufficient frictional holding-surface for the pintle. Therefore a caster-socket which will offer a maximum amount of frictional bearingsurface 3o for the pintle and at the same time be simpleof construction and will serve to support it vertically in the metal tube has long been a necessity in the trade. y

My invention consists in providing for the pintle a. spring-frame or attaching device bent up directly around the pintle and forming a direct bearing therefor from a single piece of steel, so as to form interiorly a vertical longitudinal bearing for the pintle pref- 4o erably throughout its length and furnishing outwardly springs on either side, the curved faces of which conform to and bear against the inner surface of the metallic tube inserted in the leg of the piece of furniture, thus holding the pintle of the caster by reason of the friction between its surface and that of the spring rmly within the tubular leg of the piece of furniture.

Myinvention will be best understood by reference to theaccompanying sheet of draw- 5o ings, forming apart of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical elevation of a caster provided with one form. of my pint-le springframe. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan View of the 55 same on the lines 2,2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the spring pintleframe on the lines 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view of the blank from which the spring pintle-frame is made. Fig. 5 is avertical eleva- 6o tion of castercom plete, showing an alternative construction of the pintle spring-frame.

Fig. t3 is a sectional plan view of the same on the lines 6 6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a View of an alternative construction of the blank from which the spring pintle-frame is made, and

Fig. S shows a further alternative manner of bending up the spring pintle-frame.

Similar letters and figures refer to similar parts throughout the several drawings. 7o

In the drawings, l represents an ordinary caster-wheel rotating in the horn 2 from the top of which the pintle 5 rises vertically. 3 represents the tubular leg of the piece of furniture or a metallic `tube inserted therein if 75 made of wood of sufficient diameter to admit the spring-frame of the pintle. In Fig. 7, A represents a sheet of steel metal which is bent up to form the spring pintle-framein the Inanner hereinafter described. In the` drawings 8o an ordinary ball-bearing caster is shown, the balls being held between the top of the horn 6 and the beveled ball-cup '7. All of these, parts are of ordinary form and construction, and obviously other forms of caster than the one here shown can be used.

The spring-attaching device forming the subject of the present invention consists of a piece of sheet-steel A, Fig. 7, bent up, preferably, in the form shown in Fig. 2, so as to 9o form at the centera vertical cylindrical bear l ing l2, which surrounds the pintle tightly and is capable of holding it in an upright position. The two ends of the sheet are then bent outward, as shown in Fig. 8, in such a manner as to conform in diameter to thediameter of the tube and so that their outer surfaces shall form Wings 4, which will conform to and l impinge against the inner surface of the metallic tube 3 and by reason of the friction between tube and the wings 4 will hold the pin-- tle vertically in what is substantially the center of the hollow leg. The parts y9 and lO serve as springs for the wings 4, and as the wings do not actuallycome together at their extremities when the `pintle and spring-plate are inserted in place in the hollow leg the parts 4 4 will be simply compressed and in this way will act as a spring and hold the pintle in place.

In order to lengthen thespringplate and increase' the friction-surface without lengthening the pintle, the sheet-metal` tudinal bearing-surface of the spring-plate relatively'increased without increasing the length or height of the pintle. It will be bvious that after the plate is bent in its center, so as to form the vertical cylindrical bearing for the pintle, the ends may be bent in any convenient way which will enable them 'to serve as spring-plates within the hollow leg. If

` desired, the ends of the plate may be slightly bent in, as shown in Fig. 8, to facilitate the removal of the pintle and spring attachment. An alternative form of bending the plate is shownin Figs. 5 and 6. In this case the blank is bent together and flattened at the center, as shown by 11. Then the pintle is inserted between the foldsand the circular bearing for the pintle is`formed. Then the ends are bent up so as to form the springs 9 and lO, and finally the remainder of the blank is turned over so as to form the wings 4 4. This construction has the advantage Ithat the extremity of the fold 1 impinges on the innersurface of the hollow tube and forms the same result as the wings4 4in Fig. 2. In forming the wings 4 4 suicient space must be left between each other in all cases `to give sufficient spring to the frame, so that when the frame carrying the pintle is forced up into the metallic tube the wings of the frame will be pressed together sufficiently to hold the pintle firmly upright in its bearing, but with a constantly outwardly exerting pressure against the inner surface of the metallic tube, thus forming for the pintle-case a firm frictional bearing and holding the same firmly within the metallic tube.

I claim as my invention- 1. The herein described pintle retainer` formed of a sheet-metal oblong blank, said blank being bent transversely between its longitudinal ends and producing a pintle-receiving bearing, and beyond said bearing having its terminals curved outwardly upon themselves in reverse directions forming yielding wings in substantially the same horizontal plane as the bearing said wings being adapted to be compressed for insertion of the retainer in the bore of a furniture-leg and to subsequently expand and take vfrictional contact therewith.

` 2. The herein -described pintle-retainer formed of a` sheet-metal oblong blank, said blank being bent transversely at its longitudinal center and producing a pintle-receiving bearing, and beyond said bearing having its terminals annularly disposed forming yielding wings in substantially the same horizontal plane as the bearing said wings being adapted to be compressed for insertion of the retainer in the bore of a furniture-leg and to subsequently expand and take frictional contact therewith.

3. The herein-described pintle-retainer formed of a sheet-metal oblong blank, one

blank having its terminals outwardly disposed and curved to form yielding wings being adapted for compression to permitof the insertion of the retainer in the bore in the leg of a piece of furniture and subsequent to such insertion to expand and make frictionaly contact therewith.

4. The herein described pintle-retainer for casters the same comprising a central pintle-receiving bearing, and outwardly and reversely curved compressible wings partially surrounding said bearing and extending upward and beyond the bearing, said wings being adapted to be compressed to permity of the insertion of the retainer in the bore ofa IOO leg of furniture and subsequent to such insertion to expand and take frictional hold therewith.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence ot' two witnesses, this 22d day of March,

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